The present invention relates to the field of dynamic content processing and, more particularly, to integrating an applet into a multi-page or multi-tasking Web application to enable applet state to be automatically saved and restored.
Many Web applications utilize multiple pages and/or implement multi-tasking technologies. At present, dynamic information (e.g., applet information) is lost when a user switches from one page to another within the Web application. That is, when a Web page contains an applet, and when a user accesses another Web page, the applet is terminated. Sometimes, this new page is a different page of the same Web application. For example, the other page can be associated with a different tab in a tabbed notebook, can be a different step in a Wizard, or can be another task in a Web application (i.e., for a Web application that allows the user to have more than one task active at the same time). When a user returns to the original page containing the applet, the applet is restarted. Since the user did not explicitly finish the operation, the applet restarts as if the user is accessing the Web page for the first time. All applet state information is lost. This assumes a finalization condition (e.g., a natural savepoint based upon processing logic such as form completion or an explicit user save using an applet or Web control) has not occurred.
For example, a user can utilize a check-out wizard of an e-commerce site. The user can enter personal information in an initial page needed for checking out, when the user realizes he/she wants to add another item to the shopping cart. The user can click on a back navigation button or a home button from the Web site to select an additional item to add to a shopping cart. When the user returns to the check-out wizard, the personal information they previously entered is lost (i.e., an applet for check-out is terminated when navigating back to an original page and restarted when the user returns to the check-out page). The user must then reenter this information to proceed, which can annoy the user, sometimes enough that he/she exits the Web site without purchasing the items. No known solution exists for this problem.